document_title: Correlation does not imply causation

question_text: reverse causality problem in determining cause and effect

text: Correlation does not imply causation

text: Usage[edit]

text: In logic, the technical use of the word "implies" means "is a sufficient circumstance for".[citation needed] This is the meaning intended by statisticians when they say causation is not certain. Indeed, p implies q has the technical meaning of the material conditional: if p then q symbolized as p → q. That is "if circumstance p is true, then q follows." In this sense, it is always correct to say "Correlation does not imply causation."

text: However, in casual use, the word "implies" loosely means suggests rather than requires. The idea that correlation and causation are connected is certainly true; where there is causation, there is a likely correlation. Indeed, correlation is used when inferring causation; the important point is that such inferences are made after correlations are confirmed as real and all causational relationship are systematically explored using large enough data sets.

text: Edward Tufte, in a criticism of the brevity of "correlation does not imply causation", deprecates the use of "is" to relate correlation and causation (as in "Correlation is not causation"), citing its inaccuracy as incomplete.[1] While it is not the case that correlation is causation, simply stating their nonequivalence omits information about their relationship. Tufte suggests that the shortest true statement that can be made about causality and correlation is one of the following:[4]

text:
"Empirically observed covariation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for causality."
"Correlation is not causation, but it sure is a hint."

text: General pattern[edit]

text: For any two correlated events, A and B, the different possible relationships include[citation needed]:

text:
A causes B (direct causation);
B causes A (reverse causation);
A and B are consequences of a common cause, but do not cause each other;
A and B both causes C, which is (explicitly or implicitly) conditioned on. If A and B cause C, why do A and B have to be correlated?;
A causes B and B causes A (bidirectional or cyclic causation);
A causes C which causes B (indirect causation);
There is no connection between A and B; the correlation is a coincidence.

text: Thus there can be no conclusion made regarding the existence or the direction of a cause-and-effect relationship only from the fact that A and B are correlated. Determining whether there is an actual cause-and-effect relationship requires further investigation, even when the relationship between A and B is statistically significant, a large effect size is observed, or a large part of the variance is explained.

text: Examples of illogically inferring causation from correlation[edit]

text: B causes A (reverse causation or reverse causality)[edit]

text: Reverse causation or reverse causality or wrong direction is an informal fallacy of questionable cause where cause and effect are reversed. The cause is said to be the effect and vice versa.

text: In this example, the correlation (simultaneity) between windmill activity and wind velocity does not imply that wind is caused by windmills. It is rather the other way around, as suggested by the fact that wind doesn’t need windmills to exist, while windmills need wind to rotate. Wind can be observed in places where there are no windmills or non-rotating windmills—and there are good reasons to believe that wind existed before the invention of windmills.

text: This argument by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff was refuted by Paul Krugman on the basis that they got the causality backwards: in actuality, slow growth causes debt to increase.[5]

text: In other cases it may simply be unclear which is the cause and which is the effect. For example:

text: This could easily be the other way round; that is, violent children like watching more TV than less violent ones.

text: A correlation between recreational drug use and psychiatric disorders might be either way around: perhaps the drugs cause the disorders, or perhaps people use drugs to self medicate for preexisting conditions. Gateway drug theory may argue that marijuana usage leads to usage of harder drugs, but hard drug usage may lead to marijuana usage (see also confusion of the inverse). Indeed, in the social sciences where controlled experiments often cannot be used to discern the direction of causation, this fallacy can fuel long-standing scientific arguments. One such example can be found in education economics, between the screening/signaling and human capital models: it could either be that having innate ability enables one to complete an education, or that completing an education builds one's ability.

text: A historical example of this is that Europeans in the Middle Ages believed that lice were beneficial to your health, since there would rarely be any lice on sick people. The reasoning was that the people got sick because the lice left. The real reason however is that lice are extremely sensitive to body temperature. A small increase of body temperature, such as in a fever, will make the lice look for another host. The medical thermometer had not yet been invented, so this increase in temperature was rarely noticed. Noticeable symptoms came later, giving the impression that the lice left before the person got sick.[citation needed]

text: In other cases, two phenomena can each be a partial cause of the other; consider poverty and lack of education, or procrastination and poor self-esteem. One making an argument based on these two phenomena must however be careful to avoid the fallacy of circular cause and consequence. Poverty is a cause of lack of education, but it is not the sole cause, and vice versa.

text: Third factor C (the common-causal variable) causes both A and B[edit]

text: The third-cause fallacy (also known as ignoring a common cause[6] or questionable cause[6]) is a logical fallacy where a spurious relationship is confused for causation. It asserts that X causes Y when, in reality, X and Y are both caused by Z. It is a variation on the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy and a member of the questionable cause group of fallacies.

text: All of these examples deal with a lurking variable, which is simply a hidden third variable that affects both causes of the correlation. A difficulty often also arises where the third factor, though fundamentally different from A and B, is so closely related to A and/or B as to be confused with them or very difficult to scientifically disentangle from them (see Example 4).

text: The above example commits the correlation-implies-causation fallacy, as it prematurely concludes that sleeping with one's shoes on causes headache. A more plausible explanation is that both are caused by a third factor, in this case going to bed drunk, which thereby gives rise to a correlation. So the conclusion is false.

text: This is a scientific example that resulted from a study at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. Published in the May 13, 1999 issue of Nature,[7] the study received much coverage at the time in the popular press.[8] However, a later study at Ohio State University did not find that infants sleeping with the light on caused the development of myopia. It did find a strong link between parental myopia and the development of child myopia, also noting that myopic parents were more likely to leave a light on in their children's bedroom.[9][10][11][12] In this case, the cause of both conditions is parental myopia, and the above-stated conclusion is false.

text: This example fails to recognize the importance of time of year and temperature to ice cream sales. Ice cream is sold during the hot summer months at a much greater rate than during colder times, and it is during these hot summer months that people are more likely to engage in activities involving water, such as swimming. The increased drowning deaths are simply caused by more exposure to water-based activities, not ice cream. The stated conclusion is false.

text: However, as encountered in many psychological studies, another variable, a "self-consciousness score", is discovered that has a sharper correlation (+.73) with shyness. This suggests a possible "third variable" problem, however, when three such closely related measures are found, it further suggests that each may have bidirectional tendencies (see "bidirectional variable", above), being a cluster of correlated values each influencing one another to some extent. Therefore, the simple conclusion above may be false.

text: Richer populations tend to eat more food and produce more CO2.

text: Further research[14] has called this conclusion into question. Instead, it may be that other underlying factors, like genes, diet and exercise, affect both HDL levels and the likelihood of having a heart attack; it is possible that medicines may affect the directly measurable factor, HDL levels, without affecting the chance of heart attack.

text: Bidirectional causation: A causes B, and B causes A[edit]

text: Causality is not necessarily one-way; in a predator-prey relationship, predator numbers affect prey numbers, but prey numbers, i.e. food supply, also affect predator numbers.

text: The relationship between A and B is coincidental[edit]

text: The two variables aren't related at all, but correlate by chance. The more things are examined, the more likely it is that two unrelated variables will be appear to be related. For example:

text:
The result of the last home game by the Washington Redskins prior to the presidential election predicted the outcome of every presidential election from 1936 to 2000 inclusive, despite the fact that the outcomes of football games had nothing to do with the outcome of the popular election. This streak was finally broken in 2004 (or 2012 using an alternative formulation of the original rule).
A collection of such coincidences[15] finds that for example, there is a 99.79% correlation for the period 1999-2009 between U.S. spending on science, space, and technology; and the number of suicides by suffocation, strangulation, and hanging.
The Mierscheid law, which correlates the Social Democratic Party of Germany's share of the popular vote with the size of crude steel production in Western Germany.
Alternating bald–hairy Russian leaders: A bald (or obviously balding) state leader of Russia has succeeded a non-bald ("hairy") one, and vice versa, for nearly 200 years.

text: Determining causation[edit]

text: In academia[edit]

text: The nature of causality is systematically investigated in several academic disciplines, including philosophy and physics.

text: In academia, there are a significant number of theories on causality; The Oxford Handbook of Causation (Beebee, Hitchcock & Menzies 2009) encompasses 770 pages. Among the more influential theories within philosophy are Aristotle's Four causes and Al-Ghazali's occasionalism.[16] David Hume argued that beliefs about causality are based on experience, and experience similarly based on the assumption that the future models the past, which in turn can only be based on experience – leading to circular logic. In conclusion, he asserted that causality is not based on actual reasoning: only correlation can actually be perceived.[17] Immanuel Kant, according to Beebee, Hitchcock & Menzies (2009), held that "a causal principle according to which every event has a cause, or follows according to a causal law, cannot be established through induction as a purely empirical claim, since it would then lack strict universality, or necessity".

text: Outside the field of philosophy, theories of causation can be identified in classical mechanics, statistical mechanics, quantum mechanics, spacetime theories, biology, social sciences, and law.[16] To establish a correlation as causal within physics, it is normally understood that the cause and the effect must connect through a local mechanism (cf. for instance the concept of impact) or a nonlocal mechanism (cf. the concept of field), in accordance with known laws of nature.

text: From the point of view of thermodynamics, universal properties of causes as compared to effects have been identified through the Second law of thermodynamics, confirming the ancient, medieval and Cartesian[18] view that "the cause is greater than the effect" for the particular case of thermodynamic free energy. This, in turn, is challenged[dubious – discuss] by popular interpretations of the concepts of nonlinear systems and the butterfly effect, in which small events cause large effects due to, respectively, unpredictability and an unlikely triggering of large amounts of potential energy.

text: Causality construed from counterfactual states[edit]

text: Intuitively, causation seems to require not just a correlation, but a counterfactual dependence. Suppose that a student performed poorly on a test and guesses that the cause was his not studying. To prove this, one thinks of the counterfactual – the same student writing the same test under the same circumstances but having studied the night before. If one could rewind history, and change only one small thing (making the student study for the exam), then causation could be observed (by comparing version 1 to version 2). Because one cannot rewind history and replay events after making small controlled changes, causation can only be inferred, never exactly known. This is referred to as the Fundamental Problem of Causal Inference – it is impossible to directly observe causal effects.[19]

text: A major goal of scientific experiments and statistical methods is to approximate as best possible the counterfactual state of the world.[20] For example, one could run an experiment on identical twins who were known to consistently get the same grades on their tests. One twin is sent to study for six hours while the other is sent to the amusement park. If their test scores suddenly diverged by a large degree, this would be strong evidence that studying (or going to the amusement park) had a causal effect on test scores. In this case, correlation between studying and test scores would almost certainly imply causation.

text: Well-designed experimental studies replace equality of individuals as in the previous example by equality of groups. The objective is to construct two groups that are similar except for the treatment that the groups receive. This is achieved by selecting subjects from a single population and randomly assigning them to two or more groups. The likelihood of the groups behaving similarly to one another (on average) rises with the number of subjects in each group. If the groups are essentially equivalent except for the treatment they receive, and a difference in the outcome for the groups is observed, then this constitutes evidence that the treatment is responsible for the outcome, or in other words the treatment causes the observed effect. However, an observed effect could also be caused "by chance", for example as a result of random perturbations in the population. Statistical tests exist to quantify the likelihood of erroneously concluding that an observed difference exists when in fact it does not (for example see P-value).

text: Causality predicted by an extrapolation of trends[edit]

text: When experimental studies are impossible and only pre-existing data are available, as is usually the case for example in economics, regression analysis can be used. Factors other than the potential causative variable of interest are controlled for by including them as regressors in addition to the regressor representing the variable of interest. False inferences of causation due to reverse causation (or wrong estimates of the magnitude of causation due the presence of bidirectional causation) can be avoided by using explanators (regressors) that are necessarily exogenous, such as physical explanators like rainfall amount (as a determinant of, say, futures prices), lagged variables whose values were determined before the dependent variable's value was determined, instrumental variables for the explanators (chosen based on their known exogeneity), etc. See Causality#Statistics and economics. Spurious correlation due to mutual influence from a third, common, causative variable, is harder to avoid: the model must be specified such that there is a theoretical reason to believe that no such underlying causative variable has been omitted from the model.

text: Use of correlation as scientific evidence[edit]

text: This section's factual accuracy is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on Talk:Correlation does not imply causation. Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced. (July 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Much of scientific evidence is based upon a correlation of variables[21] – they are observed to occur together. Scientists are careful to point out that correlation does not necessarily mean causation. The assumption that A causes B simply because A correlates with B is often not accepted as a legitimate form of argument.

text: However, sometimes people commit the opposite fallacy – dismissing correlation entirely, as if it does not suggest causation at all. This would dismiss a large swath of important scientific evidence.[21] Since it may be difficult or ethically impossible to run controlled double-blind studies, correlational evidence from several different angles may be the strongest causal evidence available.[22] The combination of limited available methodologies with the dismissing correlation fallacy has on occasion been used to counter a scientific finding. For example, the tobacco industry has historically relied on a dismissal of correlational evidence to reject a link between tobacco and lung cancer,[23] as did biologist and statistician Ronald Fisher.[24][25][26][27][28][29][30]

text: Correlation is a valuable type of scientific evidence in fields such as medicine, psychology, and sociology. But first correlations must be confirmed as real, and then every possible causative relationship must be systematically explored. In the end correlation can be used as powerful evidence for a cause-and-effect relationship between a treatment and benefit, a risk factor and a disease, or a social or economic factor and various outcomes. But it is also one of the most abused types of evidence, because it is easy and even tempting to come to premature conclusions based upon the preliminary appearance of a correlation.[citation needed]


document_title: A Christmas Story

question_text: what state is a christmas story based in

root

text: A Christmas Story

text: Plot[edit]

text: The film is presented in a series of vignettes, with narration provided by the adult Ralphie Parker reminiscing on one particular Christmas when he was nine years old. Ralphie wanted only one thing for that Christmas: a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle. Ralphie's desire is rejected by his mother, his teacher Miss Shields, and even a Santa Claus at Higbee's department store, all giving him the same warning: "You'll shoot your eye out."

tag: p

text: Christmas morning arrives and Ralphie dives into his presents. Although he does receive some presents he enjoys, Ralphie ultimately is disappointed that he did not receive the one thing he wanted more than anything. After it appears all of the presents have been opened, Ralphie's father, "The Old Man," directs Ralphie to look at one last present that he had hidden. Ralphie opens it to reveal the Red Ryder gun he wanted.

text: Ralphie takes the gun outside and fires it at a target perched on a metal sign in the backyard. However, the BB ricochets back at Ralphie and knocks his glasses off. While searching for them, thinking he has indeed shot his eye out, Ralphie accidentally steps on his glasses and breaks them. He lies to his mother that a falling icicle broke his glasses, and she believes him.

text: Ralphie is in bed on Christmas night with his gun by his side. The adult Ralphie narrates that this was the best present he had ever received or would ever receive.

text: In the other vignettes,

text:
The Old Man wins a "major award" in a contest, which turns out to be a lamp in the shape of a woman's leg wearing a fishnet stocking, which was derived from the logo for Nehi (pronounced "knee-high") pop, a popular soft drink of the period.[3] The Old Man is overjoyed by the lamp, but Mrs. Parker does not like it and a feud over it — referred to by adult Ralphie as "The Battle of the Lamp" — develops and results in the lamp's "accidental" destruction.[4]
The Old Man also fights a never-ending battle with the malfunctioning furnace in the Parker home. His frustrations cause him to swear quite often, including one profanity-laden rant that the adult Ralphie says "is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan."[5]
Still another source of frustration for The Old Man is the dogs that belong to the next door neighbors, the Bumpuses. The Bumpuses own "at least 785 smelly hound dogs" that harass The Old Man whenever he comes home from work. On Christmas Day, the dogs ruin the family's Christmas dinner by romping through their kitchen and eating their turkey. This results in the family having dinner at a Chinese restaurant instead.[6]
Ralphie and his friends Flick and Schwartz are tormented by the neighborhood bullies Scut Farkus and Grover Dill. Ralphie eventually snaps and beats up Farkus.[7]

tag: ul

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker

Jean Shepherd as adult Ralphie (voice)

Ian Petrella as Randy Parker
Melinda Dillon as Mrs. Parker
Darren McGavin as Mr. Parker (The Old Man)
Scott Schwartz as Flick
R. D. Robb as Schwartz
Zack Ward as Scut Farkus
Yano Anaya as Grover Dill
Tedde Moore as Miss Shields
Jeff Gillen as Santa Claus

text: The screenplay was written by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown, and Bob Clark. Several subplots are incorporated into the body of the film, based on other separate short stories by Shepherd. Shepherd provides the film's narration from the perspective of an adult Ralphie, a narrative style later used in the dramedy television series The Wonder Years. Shepherd, Brown and Clark all have cameo appearances in the film: Shepherd plays the man who directs Ralphie and Randy to the back of the Santa line at the department store; Brown – Shepherd's wife in real life – plays the woman in the Santa line with Shepherd; Clark plays Swede, the neighbor the Old Man talks to outside during the Leg Lamp scene.

text: In the DVD commentary, director Bob Clark mentions that Jack Nicholson was considered for the role of the Old Man; Clark expresses gratitude that he ended up with Darren McGavin instead, who later appeared in several other Clark films. He cast Melinda Dillon on the basis of her similar role in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Peter Billingsley was already a minor star from appearing in many commercials and co-hosting the TV series Real People; Clark initially wanted him for the role of Ralphie, but decided he was "too obvious" a choice and auditioned many other young actors before realizing that Billingsley was the right choice after all. Ian Petrella was cast immediately before filming began. Tedde Moore had previously appeared in Clark's film Murder by Decree and was the only onscreen character from A Christmas Story who was played by the same actor in the sequel, My Summer Story. Jeff Gillen was an old friend of Clark's who had been in one of his earliest films.[8]

text: Production[edit]

text: The screenplay for A Christmas Story is based on material from author Jean Shepherd's collection of short stories, In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. Three of the semi-autobiographical short stories on which the film is based were originally published in Playboy magazine between 1964 and 1966.[9] Shepherd later read "Duel in the Snow, or Red Ryder nails the Cleveland Street Kid" and told the otherwise unpublished story "Flick's Tongue" on his WOR Radio talk show, as can be heard in one of the DVD extras.[10] Bob Clark states on the DVD commentary that he became interested in Shepherd's work when he heard "Flick's Tongue" on the radio in 1968. Additional source material for the film, according to Clark, came from unpublished anecdotes that Shepherd told live audiences "on the college circuit."[8]

text: Locations[edit]

text: The film is set in Hohman, Indiana, a fictionalized version of Shepherd's hometown of Hammond, named for Hohman Avenue, which runs through downtown Hammond.[11] Local references in the film include Warren G. Harding Elementary School and Cleveland Street (where Shepherd spent his childhood). Other local references include mention of a person "swallowing a yo-yo" in nearby Griffith,[12] the Old Man being one of the fiercest "furnace fighters in northern Indiana" and that his obscenities were "hanging in space over Lake Michigan," a mention of the Indianapolis 500, and the line to Santa Claus "stretching all the way to Terre Haute, Indiana." The Old Man is also revealed to be a fan of the Bears (whom he jokingly calls the "Chicago Chipmunks") and White Sox, consistent with living in northwest Indiana.

text: Director Bob Clark reportedly sent scouts to twenty cities before selecting Cleveland for exterior filming. Cleveland was chosen because of Higbee's Department Store in downtown Cleveland. (Since Higbee's was exclusive to northeast Ohio,[13] the department store referenced in Shepherd's book and the film is most likely Goldblatt's, located in downtown Hammond [with the Cam-Lan Chinese Restaurant three doors down on Sibley Ave].) Until they connected with Higbee's, location scouts had been unsuccessful in finding a department store that was willing to be part of the film. Higbee's vice president Bruce Campbell agreed to take part in the project on the condition he be allowed to edit the script for cursing. Ultimately, Higbee's was the stage for three scenes in the film:

text:
The opening scene in which Ralphie first spies the Red Ryder BB Gun in the store's Christmas window display. Higbee's was known for its elaborate, child-centered Christmas themes and decorations, with Santa as the centerpiece.
The parade scene, filmed just outside Higbee’s on Public Square at 3 AM. The parade was filmed at night because during the daytime the 1960s Erieview Tower and Federal Building were visible from the Public Square, as was the BP Tower, which was under construction at the time.
Ralphie and Randy’s visit to see Santa, which was filmed inside Higbee’s. The store kept the Santa slide that was made for the film and used it for several years after the film's release.

text: Higbee's became Dillard's in 1992 and closed for good in 2002.[14]

text: In addition to the scenes involving Higbee's, the exterior shots (and select interior shots where Ralphie lived, including the opening of the leg lamp) of the house and neighborhood, were filmed in the Tremont section of Cleveland's West Side. The house used as the Parker home in these scenes has been restored, reconfigured inside to match the soundstage interiors, and opened to the public as "A Christmas Story House". Appropriately, the fictional boyhood home of Ralphie Parker is on Cleveland Street, the name of the actual street where Shepherd grew up.

text: However, Cleveland was only one of several locations used. The school scenes were shot at the Victoria School in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.[15] The Christmas tree-purchasing scene was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, as was the sound stage filming of interior shots of the Parker home.[16] The "...only I didn't say fudge" scene was filmed at the foot of Cherry Street in Toronto; several lake freighters are visible in the background spending the winter at Toronto's port, which lends authenticity to the time of year when the film was produced.

text: In 2008, two fans from Canada released a documentary that visits every location used in the film. Their film, Road Trip for Ralphie, was shot over two years and includes footage of the filmmakers saving Miss Shields' blackboard from the garbage bin on the day the old Victoria School was gutted for renovation, discovering the antique fire truck that saved Flick, locating all the original costumes from the film, and tracking down the real-life location of the film's Chop Suey Palace in Toronto.[17]

text: Red Ryder BB gun[edit]

text: The Red Ryder BB gun was available beginning in 1938 and remains available today, but never in the exact configuration mentioned in the film. The Daisy "Buck Jones" model did have a compass and a sundial in the stock, but these features were not included in the Red Ryder model.[18] The compass and sundial were placed on Ralphie's BB gun, but on the opposite side of the stock due to Peter Billingsley being left-handed.[19]

text: Dating the story[edit]

text: Director Bob Clark stated in the film's DVD commentary that he and author Shepherd wished for the film to be seen as "amorphously late-'30s, early-'40s".[20] A specific year is never mentioned in the film; however, numerous sources including The New York Times and CBS News have dated the film variously at 1940 to the early 1940s.[21][22][23][24]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
A Christmas Story

Soundtrack album by Various artists

Released
November 10, 2009

Recorded
1983

Genre
Instrumental, holiday

Label
Rhino Records

tag: table

text:
Professional ratings

Review scores

Source
Rating

Allmusic
[25]

text: Release and reception[edit]

text: Initially overlooked as a sleeper film,[26] A Christmas Story was released a week before Thanksgiving 1983 to moderate success, earning about $2 million in its first weekend.[27] Vincent Canby's mostly negative New York Times review[28] echoed the more common response.[citation needed] Roger Ebert suggested the film had only modest success because holiday-themed films were not popular at the time.[29] The film would go on to win two Genie Awards, for Bob Clark's screenplay and direction.[30]

text: By Christmas 1983 the film was no longer playing at most venues, but remained in about a hundred theaters until January 1984.[8] Gross earnings were just over $19.2 million.[27] In the years since, due to television airings and home video release, A Christmas Story has become widely popular and is now an annual Christmas special. The film was produced and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The rights to the film were acquired by Turner Entertainment Co. after Ted Turner's purchase of MGM's pre-1986 film library. Subsequently, Time Warner purchased Turner Entertainment, and currently holds rights to the film.

text: Over the years, the film's critical reputation has grown considerably and it is considered by some to be one of the best films of 1983.[31] Based on 52 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval rating from critics of 89%, with an average score of 8.5/10. The site's consensus reads: "Both warmly nostalgic and darkly humorous, A Christmas Story deserves its status as a holiday perennial."[32] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 77 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[33] In his movie guide, Leonard Maltin awarded the film a rare[citation needed] four-star rating, calling the film "Delightful" and "Truly funny for kids and grown-ups alike" with "Wonderful period flavor."[34]

text: On December 24, 2007, AOL ranked the film their #1 Christmas film of all time.[35] IGN ranked the film the top holiday-themed film of all time.[36] In 2012, a Marist Poll named the film the favorite holiday film in the U.S.[37]

text: American Film Institute lists

text:
AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – Nominated[38]
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:

"You'll shoot your eye out." – Nominated[39]

AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated[40]

text: Broadcasting and home video release[edit]

text: Television[edit]

text: The film first aired on television on HBO in 1985, and quickly attracted a growing following. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the film began airing quietly on SuperStation WTBS and Superstation WGN.[41] In 1988, then-fledgling Fox aired the film the night after Thanksgiving.[41] In 1989–1990, TBS showed it Thanksgiving night, while in 1991–1992, they aired it the night after.[41]

text: 24 Hours of A Christmas Story[edit]

text: Turner Broadcasting has maintained ownership of the broadcast rights, and since the mid-1990s, aired the film increasingly on TBS, TNT, and TCM. By 1995, it was aired on those networks a combined six times on December 24–26,[41] and in 1996, it was aired eight times over those three days.[41]

text: Due to the increasing popularity of the film, in 1997, TNT began airing a 24-hour marathon dubbed "24 Hours of A Christmas Story," consisting of the film shown twelve consecutive times beginning at 7 or 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve and ending Christmas Day.[41] This was in addition to various other airings earlier in the month of December. In 2004, after TNT switched to a predominantly drama format, sister network TBS, under its comedy-based "Very Funny" moniker, took over the marathon. Clark stated that, in 2002, an estimated 38.4 million people tuned into the marathon at one point or another, nearly one sixth of the country.[8] TBS reported 45.4 million viewers in 2005,[42] and 45.5 million in 2006.[43] In 2007, new all-time ratings records were set,[44] with the highest single showing (8 p.m. Christmas Eve) drawing 4.4 million viewers.[44] Viewership increased again in 2008, with 8 p.m. Christmas Eve drawing 4.5 million viewers, and 10 p.m. drawing 4.3 million,[45] and 54.4 million total.[46] As of 2009, the film had been shown 250 times on the Turner family of networks.[46]

text: In 2007, the marathon continued, and the original tradition was revived. TNT also aired the film twice the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend (November 25). In 2009, the 24-hour marathon continued on TBS, for the 13th overall year, starting at 8 p.m. eastern on Christmas Eve.[47]

text: In 2009, the film aired on TBS during a 24-hour marathon on Christmas Eve. The first viewing at 8 p.m. Eastern on December 24 earned a 1.6 rating (18–49) and beat the major broadcast networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox).[48] In 2010, the marathon averaged 3 million viewers, up 2% from the previous year, ranking TBS as the top cable network for the 24-hour period. The 10 a.m. airing on December 25 was seen by 4.4 million viewers, and the 8 p.m. airing on December 24 was close behind with 4.3 million viewers.[49] The marathons in 2011[50] and 2012 [51] continued to see increases in ratings.

text: For the 2014 and 2015 editions of the marathon, Turner Broadcasting elected to simulcast it on both TNT and TBS, marking the first time since 2003 that TNT aired it as well as the first time the marathon is being carried by multiple stations; the two networks set their airings one hour apart (so that the TNT airings began while TBS was at the middle of the film).[52][53]

text: Subsequent and earlier works[edit]

text: A sequel involving Ralphie and his family, titled My Summer Story (originally released as It Runs in the Family), was made in 1994. With the exceptions of Tedde Moore as Ralphie's teacher (Miss Shields) and Jean Shepherd as the narrator (the voice of the adult Ralphie), it features an entirely different cast. A series of television films involving the Parker family, also from Shepherd stories, were made by PBS, including Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss (1988), The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski (1985), The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters (1982), and The Phantom of the Open Hearth (1976).

text: A Christmas Story 2 is another sequel which ignores the references and events of My Summer Story and was released direct-to-video in 2012[54] and directed by Brian Levant. It was filmed in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.[55]

text: Stage adaptations[edit]

text: In 2000, a stage play adaptation of A Christmas Story was written by Philip Grecian.[56]

text: In November 2012, A Christmas Story: The Musical, based on the film, opened on Broadway. Written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (music and lyrics) and Joseph Robinette (book), the musical opened to positive reviews.[57] The run ended December 30, 2012.[58] The musical was directed by John Rando with choreography by Warren Carlyle and featured Dan Lauria as Jean Shepherd.[59] The musical received Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (Robinette), and Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre.[60] The musical was then adapted for television as A Christmas Story Live!, which aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 17, 2017.[61]

text: Home video releases[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text:
Betamax (1985)
VHS (1984, 1985, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2000)
LaserDisc (1985): pan and scan
LaserDisc (1993): deluxe letterbox edition
DVD (1997, reissued by Warner Home Video in 1999): fullscreen, includes original theatrical trailer
DVD (2003) 20th Anniversary 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2003): Widescreen & Fullscreen; includes cast interviews, audio commentary, and featurettes.
HD DVD (2006)[62]
Blu-ray (2006)[63]
DVD (2008) Ultimate Collector's Edition: Metal tin case features the same 2003 two-disc special edition, but includes special memorabilia.[64]
Blu-ray (2008) Ultimate Collector's Edition: Metal tin which features the same 2006 Blu-ray disc, but also includes a strand of Leg Lamp Christmas lights.[65]
Blu-ray (2013) 30th Anniversary Edition: Steelbook with Blu-ray in 1080p (like the previous Blu-ray and HD-DVD) with a DTS-HD Master Audio mono track (whereas the previous releases had Dolby Digital mono), and more special features than the previous Blu-ray and HD-DVD.


document_title: The Simpsons (season 1)

question_text: when was the first episode of simpsons aired

text: The Simpsons (season 1)

text: Development[edit]

text: Origin of The Simpsons[edit]

text: The Simpsons creator Matt Groening conceived the idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. Brooks, the producer of the sketch comedy program The Tracey Ullman Show, wanted to use a series of animated shorts as bumpers between sketches. He had asked Groening to pitch an idea for a series of animated shorts, which Groening initially intended to present as his Life in Hell series. When Groening realized that animating Life in Hell would require the rescinding of publication rights for his life's work, he chose another approach and formulated his version of a dysfunctional family.[5]

text: The Simpson family first appeared as shorts in The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987.[6] Groening submitted only basic sketches to the animators and assumed that the figures would be cleaned up in production. The animators merely re-traced his drawings, which led to the crude appearance of the characters in the initial short episodes.[7]

text: Production[edit]

text: In 1989, a team of production companies adapted The Simpsons into a half-hour series for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The team included what is now the Klasky Csupo animation house. During the years of producing the shorts, everything was created in-house. Due to the increased workload of the full-length episodes, production was subcontracted to South Korean animation studio AKOM.[8] While character and background layout is done by the domestic studio, tweening, coloring, and filming are done by the overseas studio.[8]

text: The Simpsons was co-developed by Groening, James L. Brooks, and Sam Simon, a writer-producer with whom Brooks had worked on previous projects. Groening and Simon, however, did not get along[9] and were often in conflict over the show;[10] Groening once described their relationship as "very contentious".[11] Groening said his goal in creating the show was to offer the audience an alternative to what he called "the mainstream trash" that they were watching.[12] Brooks negotiated a provision in the contract with the Fox network that prevented Fox from interfering with the show's content.[13] Fox was nervous about the show because they were unsure if it could sustain the audience's attention for the duration of the episode.[2] They proposed doing three seven-minute shorts per episode and four specials until the audience adjusted,[2] but in the end, the producers gambled by asking Fox for 13 full-length episodes.[14]

text: Simon assembled and led the initial team of writers, consisting of John Swartzwelder, Jon Vitti, George Meyer, Jeff Martin, Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky.[15][16] Simon has been credited as "developing [the show's] sensibility".[17] Ken Levine says he "brought a level of honesty to the characters" and made them "three-dimensional", adding that Simon's "comedy is all about character, not just a string of gags. In The Simpsons, the characters are motivated by their emotions and their foibles. 'What are they thinking?'—that is Sam's contribution. The stories come from the characters."[17] Simon saw The Simpsons as a chance to solve "what [he] didn't like about the Saturday-morning cartoon shows [he had] worked on...[he] wanted all the actors in a room together, not reading their lines separated from each other. The Simpsons would have been a great radio show. If you just listen to the sound track, it works."[17] The music for all 13 episodes was composed by former Oingo Boingo member Richard Gibbs,[18] who would depart the show at the end of the season.

text: The series was originally set to debut in the fall of 1989 with the episode "Some Enchanted Evening", which was meant to introduce the main characters.[2] A debacle erupted when the episode "Some Enchanted Evening", the first to return from animation in Korea, was screened in front of the production staff at the Gracie Films bungalow.[2] The executive producer and developer James L. Brooks' initial reaction to the animation was "This is shit."[2] After that reaction the room almost cleared.[2] A heated argument ensued between Brooks and Klasky-Csupo animation studio head Gábor Csupó, who denied that there was anything wrong with the animation and suggested that the real problem was the quality of the show's writing.[19]

text: The problem with the animation from the producers' point-of-view was that it did not exhibit a distinct style envisioned for the show. At the time there were only a few choices for animation style. Usually, they would either follow the style of Disney, Warner Bros., or Hanna-Barbera. Disney and Warner Bros. cartoons had a universe that was bendy and the characters seemed to be made of rubber.[2] The producers wanted a realistic environment in which the characters and objects could not do anything that was not possible in the real world. One example with the early animation being cartoonish was that the doors behaved liked rubber when slammed. The style of Hanna-Barbera featured the use of cartoon sounds, which they did not want either.[2]

text: However, during the first screening of the episode, the producers discovered that the animation was so appalling that 70% of the episode needed to be redone.[3] The producers considered aborting the series if the next episode ("Bart the Genius") turned out as bad, but it only suffered from a few, easily fixable problems. The producers convinced Fox to move the debut to December 17, and aired "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" as the first episode of the series.[2]

text: The half hour series premiere debuted on December 17, 1989 with "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" a Christmas special. The next episode "Bart the Genius" was the first to feature the series' full title sequence, including the chalkboard gag and couch gag. Matt Groening developed the lengthy sequence in order to cut down on the animation necessary for each episode, but devised the two gags as compensation for the repeated material each week.[20] Groening, who had not paid much attention to television since his own childhood, was unaware that title sequences of such length were uncommon by that time.[20] As the finished episodes became longer, the production team were reluctant to cut the stories in order to allow for the long title sequence, so shorter versions of it were developed.[21]

text: In some of the episodes the characters act completely differently to how they do in later seasons; Lisa, for example, is undisciplined and short-tempered, while Homer is the voice of reason; these roles are reversed in later episodes.[22] Mr. Burns, was voiced by Christopher Collins in "Homer's Odyssey". Originally, the character was influenced by Ronald Reagan, a concept which was later dropped.[22]

text: The first episode featured many new characters such as Seymour Skinner, Milhouse Van Houten, Sherri and Terri, Moe Szyslak, Mr. Burns, Barney Gumble, Patty and Selma, Ned and Todd Flanders, Santa's Little Helper, Snowball II, Dewey Largo, and Lewis.[23] Snowball I is mentioned for the first time and Waylon Smithers can be heard over the speaker at the power plant, but he is not seen.[23]

text: The following episodes in the season saw the introduction of several new recurring characters, including Martin Prince, Richard, Edna Krabappel, Dr. J Loren Pryor,[24] Waylon Smithers, Otto Mann, Chief Wiggum, Jasper Beardley, Sam & Larry, Mr. & Mrs. Winfield, Sherri and Terri,[25] Dr. Marvin Monroe, Eddie and Lou,[26] Nelson Muntz, Herman,[27] Bleeding Gums Murphy, Jacqueline Bouvier,[28] Sideshow Bob, Reverend Timothy Lovejoy, Krusty the Clown, Jimbo Jones, Kearney Zzyzwicz, Dolphin "Dolph" Starbeam, Ms. Albright, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon,[29] Lenny and Carl, Kent Brockman and Agnes Skinner.[30]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Ratings[edit]

text: The Simpsons first season was the Fox network's first TV series to rank among a season's top 30 highest-rated shows.[31] It won one Emmy Award, and received four additional nominations. Although television shows are limited to one episode a category, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" was considered a separate special, and nominated alongside fellow episode "Life on the Fast Lane" for Outstanding Animated Program; "Life on the Fast Lane" won the award. "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" was also nominated for "Outstanding Editing in a Miniseries or Special", while "The Call of the Simpsons" was nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special". The main theme song, composed by Danny Elfman, was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music".[4]

text: Reception[edit]

text: On Metacritic, a site which uses a weighted mean score, the season scored a 79/100 from six critics, translating to "generally favorable reviews." However, the show was controversial from its beginning. The rebellious lead character at the time, Bart, frequently received no punishment for his misbehavior, which led some parents to characterize him as a poor role model for children.[32][33] Several US public schools even banned The Simpsons merchandise and t-shirts, such as one featuring Bart and the caption "Underachiever ('And proud of it, man!')".[34] Despite the ban, The Simpsons merchandise sold well and generated US$2 billion in revenue during the first 14 months of sales.[34]

text: Episodes[edit]

text:
No.
overall
No. in
season
Title
Directed by
Written by
Original air date
Prod.
code
U.S. viewers
(millions)

1
1
"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"
David Silverman
Mimi Pond
December 17, 1989 (1989-12-17)
7G08
26.7[35]

While Christmas shopping, Bart sneaks off and gets a tattoo. Marge soon discovers this and uses the family's Christmas savings to get it removed. Meanwhile, Homer discovers that he will not be getting a Christmas bonus from Mr. Burns and thus the family has no money to buy Christmas presents. He decides to keep their financial troubles a secret and gets a job as a department store Santa, but later discovers that the job does not pay enough. Desperate for a miracle, Homer and Bart go to the dog racing track on Christmas Eve in hopes of earning some money. He bets it all on a longshot named Santa's Little Helper, who loses. Santa's Little Helper's owner furiously disowns the dog for completing last and Homer lets Bart keep him. Later on, Homer attempts to come clean to everyone, but Bart exclaims that they have a dog and everyone happily welcomes the newest member of the Simpson family.

2
2
"Bart the Genius"
David Silverman
Jon Vitti
January 14, 1990 (1990-01-14)
7G02
24.5[35]

Bart has trouble on an intelligence test and sneakily switches tests with Martin Prince, the class genius. After the results are tabulated, the school psychiatrist labels Bart a genius and sends him to the Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children. Homer starts treating Bart with respect, but Bart immediately feels out of place among his new classmates and is alienated from his old peers. He confesses that he cheated on the test and is subsequently sent back to Springfield Elementary School.[36]

3
3
"Homer's Odyssey"
Wesley Archer
Jay Kogen & Wallace Wolodarsky
January 21, 1990 (1990-01-21)
7G03
27.5[38]

Bart's class visits the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and Homer, anxious to look like he is working, accidentally crashes his cart into a radioactive pipe, causing him to be fired. Depressed and unable to find a new job, he decides to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. His family discover his plan and try to stop him, but in the process they are almost run over by a truck. Discovering his new purpose, Homer embarks on a safety crusade and eventually decides to go after the Nuclear Plant and holds protest rallies. To end Homer's furor, Mr. Burns offers him a job as safety inspector, with increased salary, which Homer accepts.
Guest star: Sam McMurray[37]

4
4
"There's No Disgrace Like Home"
Gregg Vanzo & Kent Butterworth
Al Jean & Mike Reiss
January 28, 1990 (1990-01-28)
7G04
20.2[40]

Homer takes his family to the company picnic at Mr. Burns's manor. Marge, Bart and Lisa embarrass Homer and he notices that Mr. Burns seems to favour a family who love and respect one another. Convinced that both he and his family are pathetic, he takes everyone to Dr. Marvin Monroe's family therapy center. When standard methods prove useless in civilizing the family, Monroe resorts to shock therapy and wire the Simpsons to electrodes. Soon the Simpsons start shocking one another and cause Springfield to lose power.[39]

5
5
"Bart the General"
David Silverman
John Swartzwelder
February 4, 1990 (1990-02-04)
7G05
27.1[42]

Bart runs afoul of Nelson Muntz, the school bully, who begins attacking Bart every day after school. Homer suggests fighting back, which does not work. Desperate for a solution, Bart visits Grampa for advice. Grampa takes Bart to meet Herman, who suggests that Bart rally all of the school children and declare war on Nelson. Bart and his army attack Nelson and successfully manage to convince him to give up his bullying ways.[41]

6
6
"Moaning Lisa"
Wesley Archer
Al Jean & Mike Reiss
February 11, 1990 (1990-02-11)
7G06
27.4[44]

Lisa becomes depressed, which begins to affect her performance in school. Neither Marge nor Homer are able to make Lisa happier. One night, she hears distant Jazz music and sneaks out of her room to follow it. She meets Bleeding Gums Murphy, who teaches her how to express her music through the saxophone. When Marge drops Lisa off at school the next day, she suggests that Lisa smile no matter how she feels. However, Marge sees that Lisa is being denied her creativity and realizes that that's what is disappointing her. Marge tells Lisa to just be herself, and the entire family go to see Murphy perform at a local Jazz club.
Guest star: Ron Taylor.[43]

7
7
"The Call of the Simpsons"
Wesley Archer
John Swartzwelder
February 18, 1990 (1990-02-18)
7G09
27.6[46]

Homer becomes envious of Flanders' new RV and goes to "Bob's RV Round-up" to buy one of his own. Settling on a dilapidated camper, he takes the family camping and in the process destroys the RV. Leaving Lisa and Marge behind, Bart and Homer try to find their way back to civilization, but have little luck. Later on, Homer is mistaken for Bigfoot and captured. Marge, Bart and Lisa are saved and Homer is released, although scientists say that they can not determine which species he belongs to.
Guest star: Albert Brooks.[45]

8
8
"The Telltale Head"
Rich Moore
Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Sam Simon & Matt Groening
February 25, 1990 (1990-02-25)
7G07
28[48]

Bart becomes friends with Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney, a group of local troublemakers. Trying to impress them, Bart decides to cut off and steal the head of the statue of Jebediah Springfield. The next day, the entire town grieves for the vandalized statue and Bart discovers that his new friends want to attack the vandal. Feeling remorse, Bart confesses to his family and Homer and Bart take the head back to the statue after passing through the furious people.[47]
Notes: First episode to feature Krusty, Sideshow Bob and Reverend Lovejoy.

9
9
"Life on the Fast Lane"
David Silverman
John Swartzwelder
March 18, 1990 (1990-03-18)
7G11
33.5[50]

Having forgotten about Marge's birthday, Homer rushes to the Springfield mall and impulsively buys her a bowling ball. Marge is not impressed with the gift and after discovering that he intends to use it, she decides to spite him by going bowling herself. While at the alley, she meets Jacques, a charming French bowling instructor, who offers her lessons. Jacques begins to fall for Marge and invites her to his apartment. Although she agrees, Marge undergoes a moral dilemma. In the end, Marge visits Homer at the nuclear plant.
Guest star: Albert Brooks.[49]

10
10
"Homer's Night Out"
Rich Moore
Jon Vitti
March 25, 1990 (1990-03-25)
7G10
30.3[52]

Bart purchases a mini spy camera and manages to take a picture of Homer dancing next to stripper named Princess Kashmir at a co-worker's strip club party. He gives copies of the picture to his friends, and eventually the picture starts to circulate around until eventually Marge sees it. She kicks Homer out of the house, but the next day explains that she is not upset about him dancing next to a woman, but rather that Bart saw it. She demands that he take Bart and go apologize to Princess Kashmir. Homer agrees and says that he is ready to start respecting women.
Guest star: Sam McMurray.[51]

11
11
"The Crepes of Wrath"
Wesley Archer & Milton Gray
George Meyer, Sam Simon, John Swartzwelder & Jon Vitti
April 15, 1990 (1990-04-15)
7G13
31.2[54]

Principal Skinner finally becomes fed up with Bart's pranks and proposes that Bart be sent to France as part of the student exchange program. The family agrees and Bart is sent to the "beautiful" Château Maison, which is actually a dilapidated farmhouse on a neglected vineyard. Bart is treated like a slave by two unscrupulous winemakers, César and Ugolin, who eventually feed him wine tainted with antifreeze. Meanwhile, an Albanian boy named Adil starts to live with the Simpsons who, unbeknownst to Homer, is a spy sent by his country to obtain nuclear blueprints. Back in France, Bart learns French and reports the winemakers' crimes to the authorities.[53]
Note: First episode to feature Agnes Skinner.

12
12
"Krusty Gets Busted"
Brad Bird
Jay Kogen & Wallace Wolodarsky
April 29, 1990 (1990-04-29)
7G12
30.4[56]

While buying ice cream at the Kwik-E-Mart, Homer witnesses a robbery perpetrated by a man believed to be Krusty the Clown, host of "Krusty the Clown Show", Bart's favorite program. Krusty is sent to jail and his show is taken over by his assistant, Sideshow Bob. Bart is certain that Krusty is innocent, and gathers evidence to support his claim, which he takes to "Krusty's bestest friend", Sideshow Bob. Bart realizes that the robbery was actually committed by Bob, who was trying to frame Krusty. Bob is arrested and Krusty thanks Bart for saving him.
Guest star: Kelsey Grammer.[55]
Note: First episode to feature Kent Brockman.

13
13
"Some Enchanted Evening"
David Silverman & Kent Butterworth
Matt Groening & Sam Simon
May 13, 1990 (1990-05-13)
7G01
27.1[58]

Marge, feeling unappreciated by Homer, makes a call to a radio therapist, which Homer overhears at work. Homer, wanting to make it up to Marge, decides to take her to dinner at a fancy restaurant and hires a babysitter to take care of Bart and Lisa. They are sent Ms. Botz, who Bart and Lisa soon discover is actually a burglar nicknamed "The Babysitter Bandit". They are captured by Ms. Botz and tied up but eventually are freed by Maggie. Bart and Lisa capture Ms. Botz and call the police. Meanwhile, Marge and Homer return home and find Ms. Botz is tied up. Homer, unaware of her true identity, frees her and Ms. Botz makes a clean getaway just moments before the police arrive.
Guest stars: June Foray, Christopher Collins, Penny Marshall and Paul Willson.[57]

text: DVD release[edit]

text: The DVD boxset for season one was released by 20th Century Fox in the United States and Canada in September 2001, eleven years after it had completed broadcast on television. As well as every episode from the season, the DVD release features bonus material including deleted scenes, Animatics, and commentaries for every episode.

text:
The Complete First Season

Set Details[59][60]
Special Features[59][60]

13 episodes
3-disc set
1.33:1 aspect ratio
Languages:

English (Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles)[60]
French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)[60]
Spanish (subtitles only)[60]

Optional commentaries for all 13 episodes
Original scripts for "Bart the Genius", "Bart the General", "Moaning Lisa" and "Some Enchanted Evening"
Unaired version of "Some Enchanted Evening" with Optional Commentary
Albert Brooks outtakes
BBC Special: America's First Family
ABC News: Bart T-shirt Controversy
The Tracey Ullman Show short: Good Night"
Foreign Language Clips
Early Sketches
Stills and magazine covers

Release Dates

Region 1
Region 2
Region 4

September 25, 2001
September 24, 2001
September 24, 2001


document_title: Phenylalanine hydroxylase

question_text: where is phenylalanine hydroxylase found in the body

text: Phenylalanine hydroxylase

text: Enzyme mechanism[edit]

text: The reaction is thought to proceed through the following steps:

text:
formation of a Fe(II)-O-O-BH4 bridge.
heterolytic cleavage of the O-O bond to yield the ferryl oxo hydroxylating intermediate Fe(IV)=O
attack on Fe(IV)=O to hydroxylate phenylalanine substrate to tyrosine.[7]

tag: ol

text: Formation and cleavage of the iron-peroxypterin bridge. Although evidence strongly supports Fe(IV)=O as the hydroxylating intermediate,[8] the mechanistic details underlying the formation of the Fe(II)-O-O-BH4 bridge prior to heterolytic cleavage remain controversial. Two pathways have been proposed based on models that differ in the proximity of the iron to the pterin cofactor and the number of water molecules assumed to be iron-coordinated during catalysis. According to one model, an iron dioxygen complex is initially formed and stabilized as a resonance hybrid of Fe2+O2 and Fe3+O2−. The activated O2 then attacks BH4, forming a transition state characterized by charge separation between the electron-deficient pterin ring and the electron-rich dioxygen species.[9] The Fe(II)-O-O-BH4 bridge is subsequently formed. On the other hand, formation of this bridge has been modeled assuming that BH4 is located in iron's first coordination shell and that the iron is not coordinated to any water molecules. This model predicts a different mechanism involving a pterin radical and superoxide as critical intermediates.[10] Once formed, the Fe(II)-O-O-BH4 bridge is broken through heterolytic cleavage of the O-O bond to Fe(IV)=O and 4a-hydroxytetrahydrobiopterin; thus, molecular oxygen is the source of both oxygen atoms used to hydroxylate the pterin ring and phenylalanine.

text: Hydroxylation of phenylalanine by ferryl oxo intermediate. Because the mechanism involves a Fe(IV)=O (as opposed to a peroxypterin) hydroxylating intermediate, oxidation of the BH4 cofactor and hydroxylation of phenylalanine can be decoupled, resulting in unproductive consumption of BH4 and formation of H2O2.[7] When productive, though, the Fe(IV)=O intermediate is added to phenylalanine in an electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction that reduces iron from the ferryl to the ferrous state.[7] Although initially an arene oxide or radical intermediate was proposed, analyses of the related tryptophan and tyrosine hydroxylases have suggested that the reaction instead proceeds through a cationic intermediate that requires Fe(IV)=O to be coordinated to a water ligand rather than a hydroxo group.[7][11] This cationic intermediate subsequently undergoes a 1,2-hydride NIH shift, yielding a dienone intermediate that then tautomerizes to form the tyrosine product.[12] The pterin cofactor is regenerated by hydration of the carbinolamine product of PAH to quinonoid dihydrobiopterin (qBH2), which is then reduced to BH4.[13]

text: Enzyme regulation[edit]

text: PAH is proposed to use the morpheein model of allosteric regulation.[14][15]

text: Mammalian PAH exists in an equilibrium consisting of tetramers of two distinct architectures, with one or more dimeric forms as part of the equilibrium. This behavior is consistent with a dissociative allosteric mechanism.[15]

text: Many studies suggest that mammalian PAH shows behavior comparable to porphobilinogen synthase (PBGS), wherein a variety of factors such as pH and ligand binding are reported to affect enzyme activity and protein stability.[15]

text: Structure[edit]

text: The PAH monomer (51.9 kDa) consists of three distinct domains: a regulatory N-terminal domain (residues 1-117), the catalytic domain (residues 118-427), and a C-terminal domain (residues 428-453) responsible for oligomerization of identical monomers. Extensive crystallographic analysis has been performed, especially on the pterin- and iron-coordinated catalytic domain to examine the active site. The structure of the N-terminal regulatory domain has also been determined, and together with the solved structure of the homologous tyrosine hydroxylase C-terminal tetramerization domain, a structural model of tetrameric PAH has been proposed.[13]

text: Catalytic domain[edit]

text: Solved crystal structures of the catalytic domain indicate that the active site consists of an open and spacious pocket lined primarily by hydrophobic residues, though three glutamic acid residues, two histidines, and a tyrosine are also present and iron-binding.[13] Contradictory evidence exists about the coordination state of the ferrous atom and its proximity to BH4 within the active site. According to crystallographic analysis, Fe(II) is coordinated by water, His285, His290, and Glu330 (a 2-his-1-carboxylate facial triad arrangement) with octahedral geometry.[16] Inclusion of a Phe analogue in the crystal structure changes both iron from a six- to a five-coordinated state involving a single water molecule and bidentate coordination to Glu330 and opening a site for oxygen to bind. BH4 is concommitantly shifted toward the iron atom, although the pterin cofactor remains in the second coordination sphere.[17] On the other hand, a competing model based on NMR and molecular modeling analyses suggests that all coordinated water molecules are forced out of the active site during the catalytic cycle while BH4 becomes directly coordinated to iron.[18] As discussed above, resolving this discrepancy will be important for determining the exact mechanism of PAH catalysis.

text: N-terminal regulatory domain[edit]

text: The regulatory nature of the N-terminal domain (residues 1-117) is conferred by its structural flexibility.[19] Hydrogen/deuterium exchanges analysis indicates that allosteric binding of Phe globally alters the conformation of PAH such that the active site is less occluded as the interface between the regulatory and catalytic domains is increasingly exposed to solvent.[19][20][21] This observation is consistent with kinetic studies, which show an initially low rate of tyrosine formation for full-length PAH. This lag time is not observed, however, for a truncated PAH lacking the N-terminal domain or if the full-length enzyme is pre-incubated with Phe. Deletion of the N-terminal domain also eliminates the lag time while increasing the affinity for Phe by nearly two-fold; no difference is observed in the Vmax or Km for the tetrahydrobiopterin cofactor.[22] Additional regulation is provided by Ser16; phosphorylation of this residue does not alter enzyme conformation but does reduce the concentration of Phe required for allosteric activation.[21] This N-terminal regulatory domain is not observed in bacterial PAHs but shows considerable structural homology to the regulatory domain of phosphogylcerate dehydrogenase, an enzyme in the serine biosynthetic pathway.[21]

text: Tetramerization domain[edit]

text: Prokaryotic PAH is monomeric, whereas eukaryotic PAH exists in an equilibrium between homotetrameric and homodimeric forms.[7][13] The dimerization interface is composed of symmetry-related loops that link identical monomers, while the overlapping C-terminal tetramerization domain mediates the association of conformationally distinct dimers that are characterized by a different relative orientation of the catalytic and tetramerization domains (Flatmark, Erlandsen). The resulting distortion of the tetramer symmetry is evident in the differential surface area of the dimerization interfaces and distinguishes PAH from the tetramerically symmetrical tyrosine hydroxylase.[13] A domain-swapping mechanism has been proposed to mediate formation of the tetramer from dimers, in which C-terminal alpha-helixes mutually alter their conformation around a flexible C-terminal five-residue hinge region to form a coiled-coil structure, shifting equilibrium toward the tetrameric form.[7][13][23] Although both the homodimeric and homotetrameric forms of PAH are catalytically active, the two exhibit differential kinetics and regulation. In addition to reduced catalytic efficiency, the dimer does not display positive cooperativity toward L-Phe (which at high concentrations activates the enzyme), suggesting that L-Phe allosterically regulates PAH by influencing dimer-dimer interaction.[23]

text: Biological function[edit]

text: PAH is a critical enzyme in phenylalanine metabolism and catalyzes the rate-limiting step in its complete catabolism to carbon dioxide and water.[13][24] Regulation of flux through phenylalanine-associated pathways is critical in mammalian metabolism, as evidenced by the toxicity of high plasma levels of this amino acid observed in phenylketonuria (see below). The principal source of phenylalanine is ingested proteins, but relatively little of this pool is used for protein synthesis.[24] Instead, the majority of ingested phenylalanine is catabolized through PAH to form tyrosine; addition of the hydroxyl group allows for the benzene ring to be broken in subsequent catabolic steps. Transamination to phenylpyruvate, whose metabolites are excreted in the urine, represents another pathway of phenylalanine turnover, but catabolism through PAH predominates.[24]

text: In humans, this enzyme is expressed both in the liver and the kidney, and there is some indication that it may be differentially regulated in these tissues.[25] PAH is unusual among the aromatic amino acid hydroxylases for its involvement in catabolism; tyrosine and tryptophan hydroxylases, on the other hand, are primarily expressed in the central nervous system and catalyze rate-limiting steps in neurotransmitter/hormone biosynthesis.[13]

text: Disease relevance[edit]

text: Deficiency in PAH activity due to mutations in the PAH gene causes hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA), and when blood phenylalanine levels increase above 20 times the normal concentration, the metabolic disease phenylketonuria (PKU) results.[24] PKU is both genotypically and phenotypically heterogeneous: Over 300 distinct pathological mutants have been identified, the majority of which correspond to missense mutations that map to the catalytic domain.[13][16] When a cohort of identified PAH mutants were expressed in recombinant systems, the enzymes displayed altered kinetic behavior and/or reduced stability, consistent with structural mapping of these mutations to both the catalytic and tetramerization domains of the enzyme.[13] BH44 has been administered as a pharmacological treatment and has been shown to reduce blood levels of phenylalanine for a segment of PKU patients whose genotypes lead to some residual PAH activity but have no defect in BH44 synthesis or regeneration. Follow-up studies suggest that in the case of certain PAH mutants, excess BH44 acts as a pharmacological chaperone to stabilize mutant enzymes with disrupted tetramer assembly and increased sensitivity to proteolytic cleavage and aggregation.[26] Mutations that have been identified in the PAH locus are documented at the Phenylalanine Hydroxylase Locus Knowledgbase (PAHdb, http://www.pahdb.mcgill.ca/).

text: Since phenylketonuria can cause irreversible damage, it is imperative that deficiencies in the Phenylalanine Hydroxylase are determined early on in development. One method is a post-parturition screening test known as the Guthrie Test. The common method is via drawing blood from a small needle prick at the heel of the newborn and testing it for phenylketonurea, indicative of a PH deficiency. Placing the individual on a low phenylalanine, high tyrosine diet can help prevent any long-term damage to their development.

text: Related enzymes[edit]

text: Phenylalanine hydroxylase is closely related to two other enzymes:

text:
tryptophan hydroxylase (EC number 1.14.16.4), which controls levels of serotonin in the brain and the gastrointestinal tract
tyrosine hydroxylase (EC number 1.14.16.2), which controls levels of dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine in the brain and the adrenal medulla.

text: The three enzymes are homologous, that is, are thought to have evolved from the same ancient hydroxylase.


document_title: Face Off (season 11)

question_text: who won the last season of face off all stars

text: Face Off (season 11)

text: Contestants[edit]

text:
Name
Age
Hometown
Teammate
Original season
Place finished originally
Place finished

Jasmine Ringo
32
Las Vegas, Nevada
Stella
Season 9
9th
16th-15th

Stella Sensel
37
Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Jasmine
Season 7
5th

Cat Paschen
29
Los Angeles, California
Niko
Season 6
9th
14th-13th

Niko Gonzales
29
Los Angeles, California
Cat
Season 6
4th

Gage Hubbard
32
Los Angeles, California
Rachael
Season 1
Runner Up
12th-11th

Rachael Wagner
27
Los Angeles, California
Gage
Season 7
7th

Keaghlan Ashley
27
Los Angeles, California
Melissa
Season 7
9th
10th-9th

Melissa Ebbe
37
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Keaghlan
Season 10
Runner Up

Adam Milicevic
31
Los Angeles, California
Logan
Season 8
5th
8th

Ben Ploughman
35
Los Angeles, California
Evan
Season 9
Runner Up
7th

Evan Hedges
30
Boulder, Colorado
Ben
Season 9
Runner Up
6th

Logan Long
30
Salt Lake City, Utah
Adam
Season 8
Runner Up
5th

Tyler Green
29
Litchfield, Connecticut
Emily
Season 6
Runner Up
4th

George Troester III
30
Los Angeles, California
Cig
Season 7
4th
Runner Up

Emily Serpico
20
Orlando, Florida
Tyler
Season 8
Runner Up

Cig Neutron
28
Los Angeles, California
George
Season 7
Runner Up
Winner

text: Contestant progress[edit]

text: From Week 1-8 the contestants were eliminated as teams. Starting on Week 9, contestants were eliminated individually from their original teams.

text:
Contestant
Episode

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Teams
Superteams
Individual

Cig
IN
IN
WIN
IN‡
IN
WIN
HIGH
WIN
WIN
LOW
IN
WIN
IN
WINNER

Emily
IN
HIGH
HIGH
WIN
WIN
IN‡
WIN
HIGH‡
LOW
WIN
HIGH
LOW
WIN
RUNNER-UP

George
IN
IN
WIN
IN‡
IN
WIN
HIGH
WIN
WIN
LOW
LOW
HIGH
IN
RUNNER-UP

Tyler
IN
HIGH
HIGH
WIN
WIN
IN‡
WIN
HIGH‡
LOW
WIN
WIN
IN
OUT

Logan
IN
LOW
IN
HIGH
HIGH
LOW
LOW
LOW
LOW
WIN
IN
OUT

Evan
LOW
HIGH
HIGH
IN
LOW
IN
LOW
HIGH
WIN
LOW
OUT

Ben
LOW
HIGH
HIGH
IN
LOW
IN
LOW
HIGH
WIN
OUT

Adam
IN
LOW
IN
HIGH
HIGH
LOW
LOW
LOW
OUT

Melissa
WIN
IN‡
IN
LOW
LOW
LOW
HIGH
OUT

Keaghlan
WIN
IN‡
IN
LOW
LOW
LOW
HIGH
OUT

Rachael
HIGH
IN
IN
IN
IN
OUT

Gage
HIGH
IN
IN
IN
IN
OUT

Cat
IN
WIN
IN
OUT

Niko
IN
WIN
IN
OUT

Stella
LOW
OUT

Jasmine
LOW
OUT

text: Progress Color Key

text: Recurring people[edit]

text:
McKenzie Westmore - Host
Michael Westmore - Mentor

text: Judges[edit]

text:
Ve Neill
Glenn Hetrick
Neville Page

text: Episodes[edit]

text:
No. in
series
No. in
season
Title
Original air date
U.S. viewers
(million)
18-49
Rating

127
1
"Abstract Aliens"
January 24, 2017 (2017-01-24)
0.73[3]
0.3[3]

Spotlight Challenge: Season 11 begins with the All-Stars coming back in teams of 2 to create deep sea aliens with the use of green screen effects.

Due to the new layout of the show, no one was eliminated this week and the winners receive immunity going into next week's challenge.

Top Looks:

Gage & Rachael: Skeleton Shrimp
Keaghlan & Melissa: Flying Gurnard

Safe:

Adam & Logan: Veined Octopus
Cat & Niko: Vampire Squid
Cig & George: Roughback Batfish
Emily & Tyler: Deep Sea Dragon Fish

Bottom Looks:

Ben & Evan: Japanese Spider Crab
Jasmine & Stella: Helmet Jellyfish

Winner: Keaghlan & Melissa

128
2
"The Devil is in the Details"
January 31, 2017 (2017-01-31)
0.67[4]
0.3[4]

Spotlight Challenge: The teams must create a devil and an angel character, using their own positive and negative traits as inspiration, but have to merge them into one model.

Top Looks:

Ben & Evan
Cat & Niko
Emily & Tyler

Safe:

Cig & George
Gage & Rachael
Keaghlan & Melissa

Bottom Looks:

Adam & Logan
Jasmine & Stella

Winners: Cat & Niko
Eliminated: Jasmine & Stella

129
3
"Monster High"
February 7, 2017 (2017-02-07)
0.77[5]
0.3[5]

Spotlight Challenge: The artists must create real life versions of Monster High dolls, suitable for film.

Unlike other challenges, the judges were not present in this episode. Instead, a focus group made up of Monster High fans judge the artists' make-ups.
Guest: Natasha Berling: Vice President of Design & Rebecca Shipman and Natalie Villegas: Project Designers

Top Looks:

Ben & Evan: Skelita Calaveras
Cig & George: Lagoona Blue
Emily & Tyler: Draculaura

Safe:

Adam & Logan: Abbey Bominable
Cat & Niko: Clawdeen Wolf
Gage & Rachael: Venus McFlytrap
Keaghlan & Melissa: Cleo de Nile

Winners: Cig & George

130
4
"Snow Queens"
February 14, 2017 (2017-02-14)
0.74[6]
0.3[6]

Spotlight Challenge: The teams must create "Snow Queens" inspired by unique snowflakes.

Top Looks:

Emily & Tyler
Adam & Logan

Safe:

Ben & Evan
Cig & George
Gage & Rachael

Bottom Looks:

Cat & Niko
Keaghlan & Melissa

Winner: Emily & Tyler
Eliminated: Cat & Niko

131
5
"Troubling Transformations"
February 21, 2017 (2017-02-21)
0.73[7]
0.3[7]

Spotlight Challenge: The competition takes a monstrous turn as the All-Star teams must create two makeups themed after Jekyll and Hyde in the immunity challenge.

Top Looks:

Emily & Tyler: Electrical Shock
Adam & Logan: Radiation Exposure

Safe:

Cig & George: Medical Augmentation
Gage & Rachael: Horticultural Hybridization

Bottom Looks:

Ben & Evan: Chemical Exposure
Keaghlan & Melissa: Insect DNA Splicing

Winners: Emily & Tyler

Guest Judge: John Landis

132
6
"Wasteland Warriors"
February 28, 2017 (2017-02-28)
0.81[8]
0.3[8]

Spotlight Challenge: The All-Stars create dystopian characters inspired by post-apocalyptic vehicles for the elimination challenge.

Top Looks:

Cig & George

Safe:

Emily & Tyler
Ben & Evan

Bottom Looks:

Gage & Rachael
Keaghlan & Melissa
Adam & Logan

Winner: Cig & George
Eliminated: Gage & Rachael
NOTE: Before any team was eliminated, the bottom looks of the night were given one additional hour of last looks to improve their makeups based on the critiques given to them by the judges. The eliminated team was revealed in the following episode.

Guest Judge: Paul W. S. Anderson

133
7
"Puppet Masters"
March 7, 2017 (2017-03-07)
0.70[9]
0.3[9]

Spotlight Challenge: The immunity challenge has the teams create magical marionette characters inspired by "The Adventure of Pinocchio"

Top Looks:

Cig & George - Tanner
Emily & Tyler - Tailor
Keaghlan & Melissa - Blacksmith

Bottom Looks:

Ben & Evan - Goldsmith
Adam & Logan - Stonemason

Winner: Emily & Tyler

Guest Judge: Suzanne Todd

134
8
"Odd Couples"
March 14, 2017 (2017-03-14)
0.81[10]
0.3[10]

Spotlight Challenge: The five remaining All-Star teams create comedic fantasy duos in the elimination challenge.

Top Looks:

Ben & Evan - Wood Elf & Minotaur
Cig & George - Dwarf & Ogre
Emily & Tyler - Goblin & Faun

Bottom Looks:

Keaghlan & Melissa - Troll & Fairy
Adam & Logan - Naiad & Orc

Winner: Cig & George
Eliminated: Keaghlan & Melissa

135
9
"Frightening Families"
March 21, 2017 (2017-03-21)
0.96[11]
0.3[11]

Spotlight Challenge: The four remaining All-Star teams pair up with another team to form a "Super Team" in order to create deranged, mutant families of three. From this point on, there will be no immunity and contestants will be eliminated individually.

Top Looks:

Ben, Evan, Cig & George - Dilapidated circus

Bottom Looks:

Adam, Logan, Emily & Tyler - Military base

Winners: Ben, Evan, Cig & George
Eliminated: Adam

Guest Judge: Marcus Nispel

136
10
"Cursed Covens"
March 28, 2017 (2017-03-28)
0.92[12]
0.4[12]

Spotlight Challenge: The contestants are once again put into "Super Teams" that will create cursed witch and warlock characters. Each coven was affected by a curse from the other, and the ingredients of said curse impacted the look.

Top Looks:

Emily, Logan & Tyler - Horn of goat, Sage, a dying man's last breath and the sap of a poisoned willow.

Bottom Looks:

Ben, Cig, Evan & George- Deadly Nightshade, the forked tongue of a black snake, Dried Nettles and a rat's tail.

Winners: Emily, Logan & Tyler
Eliminated: Ben

137
11
"Intergalactic Congress"
April 4, 2017 (2017-04-04)
0.81[13]
0.3[13]

Spotlight Challenge: The remaining contestants, now competing individually, create an alien delegate for an intergalactic congress.

Top Looks:

Emily
Tyler

Safe:

Cig
Logan

Bottom Looks:

Evan
George

Winner: Tyler
Eliminated: Evan

138
12
"Tiki Twist"
April 11, 2017 (2017-04-11)
0.86[14]
0.3[14]

Spotlight Challenge: The five remain contestants must create a representation of Hawaiian deities.

Top Looks:

Cig - Kū (God of war)
George - Kanaloa (God of the ocean)

Safe:

Tyler - Kāne (God of earth and stone)

Bottom Looks:

Emily - Pele (Goddess of fire and volcanoes)
Logan - Lono (God of agriculture)

Winner: Cig
Eliminated: Logan

Guest Judge: Lois Burwell

139
13
"Gargoyle Guardians"
April 18, 2017 (2017-04-18)
0.80[15]
0.3[15]

Spotlight Challenge: The four remaining contestants must create gargoyle guardians inspired by different types of architecture.

Cig - Russian Renaissance
Emily - Art Deco
George - Deconstructivism
Tyler - Victorian

Winner: Emily
Eliminated: Tyler

140
14
"Battle of the Beasts"
April 25, 2017 (2017-04-25)
0.91[16]
0.3[16]

Spotlight Challenge: The final three contestants must create two animal kung-fu masters for an actual fight scene. Each finalist also received help from eliminated contestants.

Cig (with Evan, Logan and Melissa) - Tiger & Dragon
Emily (with Adam, Gage and Tyler) - Crane & Mantis
George (with Ben, Keaghlan and Rachael) - Snake & Eagle

Winner: Cig


document_title: Looking for Alaska

question_text: where did miles live in looking for alaska

text: Looking for Alaska

text: Background[edit]

text: The novel is heavily based off John Green's early life. As he explains, "I myself was once a guy from Florida who was obsessed with the dying words of famous people and then left home to attend a boarding school in Alabama."[3] He goes on to explain that while the novel is fictional, the setting is not. Green attended Indian Springs School, a boarding and day school outside of Birmingham, Alabama. Culver Creek of Looking for Alaska is Indian Springs School. From the smoking hole to the swing Pudge and Alaska sat on, John Green based the entire setting off of his high school. Characters are loosely based on his high school experiences, including smoking cigarettes in the woods instead of going to class.[3][4] While he was enrolled there, a student died under circumstances similar to the character of Alaska, which inspired the plot of the novel.[5][6]

text: John Green discussed at a book talk in Rivermont Collegiate on October 19, 2006 that he got the idea of Takumi's "fox hat" from a Filipino friend who wore a similar hat while playing pranks at Indian Springs School. From the same book talk, Green also stated that the possessed swan in Culver Creek came from his student life at Indian Springs School as well, where there was also a swan of similar nature on the campus. The two pranks that occur in the book are similar to pranks that Green pulled at his high school.[7] Green has also stated that several of Culver Creek's teachers are direct caricatures of multiple faculty members at Indian Springs.

text: During the week of July 29, 2012, Looking for Alaska broke into the New York Times best seller list at number ten in Children's Paperback, 385 weeks (more than seven years) after it was released.[8] As of May 3, 2016[update], it is number four on the New York Times best seller listing for Young Adult Paperback.[9] It spent eighteen weeks at number four.[10] Despite its literary success, Looking For Alaska has often been challenged in public school districts for content considered inappropriate.[11]

text: Plot[edit]

text: Miles Halter, obsessed with last words, leaves Florida to attend Culver Creek Preparatory High School in Alabama for his junior year, quoting François Rabelais's last words: "I go to seek a Great Perhaps".[12] Miles' new roommate, Chip "The Colonel" Martin, nicknames Miles "Pudge" and introduces Pudge to his friends: hip-hop emcee Takumi Hikohito and Alaska Young, a beautiful but emotionally unstable girl. Learning of Pudge's obsession with famous last words, Alaska informs him of Simón Bolívar's: "Damn it. How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!"[13] The two make a deal that if Pudge figures out what the labyrinth is, Alaska will find him a girlfriend. Alaska sets Pudge up with a Romanian classmate, Lara. Unfortunately, Pudge and Lara have a disastrous date, ending with a concussed Pudge throwing up on Lara. Alaska and Pudge grow closer and he begins to fall in love with her, although she insists on keeping their relationship platonic because she has a boyfriend that she insists she loves.

text: On his first night at Culver Creek, Pudge is kidnapped and thrown into a lake by the "Weekday Warriors," rich schoolmates who blame the Colonel and his friends for the expulsion of their friend, Paul. There is much tension between Pudge's friends and the Weekday Warriors because of Paul's expulsion. Takumi claims that they are innocent because their friend Marya was also expelled during the incident. However, Alaska later admits that she told on Marya and Paul to the dean, Mr. Starnes, to save herself from being punished.

text: The gang celebrates a series of pranks by drinking and partying, and an inebriated Alaska confides about her mother's death from an aneurysm when she was eight years old. Although she didn't understand at the time, she feels guilty for not calling 911. Pudge figures that her mother's death made Alaska impulsive and rash. He concludes that the labyrinth was a person's suffering and that humans must try to find their way out. Afterwards, Pudge grows closer to Lara, and they start dating. A week later, after another 'celebration', an intoxicated Alaska and Pudge spend the night together.

text: In the middle of the night, Alaska receives a phone call which causes her to go into hysterics, insisting that she has to leave. Pudge and the Colonel distract Mr. Starnes and Alaska drives away while drunk, crashes her car, and dies instantly. The Colonel and Pudge are devastated and blame themselves, but learn that Alaska might have deliberately crashed to kill herself. They discover that Alaska was driving to her mother's grave because she had forgotten her mother's birthday. The Colonel insists on questioning Jake, her boyfriend, but Pudge refuses, fearing that he might learn that Alaska never loved him. They argue and the Colonel accuses Pudge of only loving an idealized Alaska that Pudge made up in his head. Pudge realizes the truth of this and reconciles with the Colonel.

text: As a way of celebrating Alaska's life, Pudge, the Colonel, Takumi, and Lara team up with the Weekday Warriors to hire a male stripper to speak at Culver's Speaker Day. The whole school finds it hilarious; Mr. Starnes even acknowledges how clever it was. Pudge finds Alaska's copy of The General in His Labyrinth with the labyrinth quote underlined and notices the words "straight and fast" written in the margins. He remembers Alaska died on the morning after the anniversary of her mother's death and concludes that Alaska felt guilty for not visiting her mother's grave. In her rush, she might have been trying to reach the cemetery or might have committed suicide out of guilt. On the last day of school, Takumi confesses in a note that he was the last person to see Alaska, and he let her go as well. Pudge realizes that letting her go doesn't matter as much anymore. He forgives Alaska for dying, as he knows Alaska would forgive him for letting her go.

text: Characters[edit]

text: Themes[edit]

text: Search for meaning[edit]

text: After Alaska's death, Pudge and Colonel investigate the circumstances surrounding the traumatic event. While looking for answers, the boys are subconsciously dealing with their grief, and their obsession over these answers transforms into a search for meaning. Pudge and Colonel want to find out the answers to certain questions surrounding Alaska's death, but in reality, they are enduring their own labyrinths of suffering, a concept central to the novel. When their theology teacher Mr. Hyde poses a question to his class about the meaning of life, Pudge takes this opportunity to write about it as a labyrinth of suffering. He accepts that it exists and admits that even though the tragic loss of Alaska created his own labyrinth of suffering, he continues to have faith in the "Great Perhaps,'" meaning that Pudge must search for meaning in his life through inevitable grief and suffering. Literary scholar Barb Dean analyzes Pudge and the Colonel's quest for answers as they venture into finding deeper meaning in life. Because this investigation turns into something that is used to deal with the harsh reality of losing Alaska, it leads to Pudge finding his way through his own personal labyrinth of suffering and finding deeper meaning to his life.[15]

text: Grief[edit]

text: When Alaska dies unexpectedly, the repercussions in the lives of her friends are significant, especially for Pudge and the Colonel. Scholar Barb Dean concludes that it is normal to seek answers about what happened and why. She also points out that in writing Looking for Alaska, John Green wished to dive deeper into the grieving process by asking the question "how does one rationalize the harshness and messiness of life when one has, through stupid, thoughtless, and very human actions, contributed to that very harshness?" [16] Pudge and the Colonel blame themselves for Alaska's death because they do not stop her from driving while intoxicated. Because of this, their grieving process consists of seeking answers surrounding her death since they feel that they are responsible. Ultimately, Miles is able to come to the conclusion that Alaska would forgive him for any fault of his in her death and thus his grief is resolved in a healthy way.[17]

text: Coming of Age[edit]

text: Throughout the book, the events that Miles and other characters experience are typical coming-of-age situations. By the end of the book, it is clear that Miles has grown throughout the year. Book reviews often note this theme, bringing up the instances in the book such as grief that cause the characters to look at life from a new and more mature perspective.[18] Scholar Barb Dean also concludes that the characters grow up faster than expected while investigating Alaska's death because exploring the concept of they labyrinth of suffering is Miles' "rite of passage" into adulthood, and he learns more about himself through grieving for Alaska.[15] Reviews also note activities such as drinking and smoking, which, though controversial, are often viewed as rites of passage by the teenagers in this novel.[19]

text: Hope[edit]

text: The theme of hope plays a major role in Looking for Alaska. Even though some of the novel's prominent themes are about death, grief and loss, John Green ties hope into the end of the novel to solve Pudge's internal conflict brought on by Alaska's death. In Barb Dean's chapter about the novel, she takes a closer look into Mr. Hyde's theology class where he discusses the similarity of the idea of hope between the founding figures of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Mr. Hyde also asks the class what their call for hope is, and Pudge decides his is his escape of his personal labyrinth of suffering. For Pudge, his call for hope is understanding the reality of suffering while also acknowledging that things like friendship and forgiveness can help diminish this suffering. Dean notes that Green has said that he writes fiction in order to "'keep that fragile strand of radical hope [alive], to build a fire in the darkness.'" [20]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Reviews of Looking for Alaska are generally positive. Many comment on the relatable high school characters and situations as well as more complex ideas such as how topics like grief are handled. Overall, many reviewers agree that this is a coming of age story that is appealing to both older and younger readers.[21][19] There has been much controversy surrounding this novel, however, especially in school settings. Parents and school administrators have questioned the novel's language, sexual content, and depiction of tobacco and alcohol use.[22] Looking for Alaska has been featured on the American Library Association's list of Frequently Challenged Books in 2008, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2016.[23] The novel was awarded the Michael L. Printz award in 2006 and has also won praise from organizations such as the American Library Association, School Library Journal, and the Lost Angeles Times among others.[24]

text: Controversy[edit]

text: Marion County, Kentucky[edit]

text: In 2016 in Marion County, Kentucky, parents have urged schools to drop it from the curriculum, referring to it as influencing students "to experiment with pornography, sex, drugs, alcohol and profanity."[25] Although the teacher offered an opt-out book for the class, one parent still felt as though the book should be banned entirely and filed a formal complaint. After the challenge, students were given an alternate book for any parents who were not comfortable with their children reading the book. One parent still insisted on getting the book banned and filed a Request for Reconsideration on the basis that Looking For Alaska would tempt students to experiment with drugs, alcohol, and sex despite the decisions made after the challenge.[26]

text: Depew High School, Buffalo New York[edit]

text: Two teachers at Depew High School near Buffalo, New York, used the book for eleventh grade instruction in 2008. Looking For Alaska was challenged by parents for its sexual content and moral disagreements with the novel. Despite the teachers providing an alternate book, parents still argued for it to be removed from curriculum due to its inappropriate content such as offensive language, sexually explicit content, including a scene described as "pornographic", and references to homosexuality, drugs, alcohol, and smoking. The book was ultimately kept in the curriculum by the school board after a unanimous school board vote with the stipulation that the teachers of the 11th grade class give the parents a decision to have their children read an alternate book. Looking for Alaska was defended by the school district because they felt it dealt with themes relevant to students of this age, such as death, drinking and driving, and peer pressure.[27]

text: Knox and Sumner Counties, Tennessee[edit]

text: In March 2012, The Knoxville Journal reported that a parent of a 15-year-old Karns High School student objected to the book's placement on the Honors and Advanced Placement classes' required reading lists for Knox County high schools on the grounds that its sex scene and its use of profanity rendered it pornography.[28] Ultimately, students were kept from reading the novel as a whole, but Looking For Alaska was still available in libraries within the district. In May 2012, Sumner County in Tennessee also banned the teaching of Looking For Alaska. The school's spokesman argued that two pages of the novel included enough explicit content to ban the novel.

text: Controversy Due to Cover Design[edit]

text: Further controversy came from the cover art. In August 2012, Green acknowledged that the extinguished candle on the cover leads to "an improbable amount of smoke", and explained that the initial cover design did not feature the candle. Green said that certain book chains were uncomfortable with displaying or selling a book with a cover that featured cigarette smoke, so the candle was added beneath the smoke.[29] In John Green's box set, released on October 25, 2012, the candle has been removed from the cover. Further paperback releases of the book also have the candle removed.

text: Author's Response to Controversy[edit]

text: Green defended his book in his vlog, Vlogbrothers. The video, entitled "I Am Not A Pornographer", describes the Depew High School challenge of Looking For Alaska and his anger at the description of his novel as pornography. Green defends the inclusion of the oral sex scene in Looking for Alaska stating, "The whole reason that scene in question exists in Looking for Alaska is because I wanted to draw a contrast between that scene, when there is a lot of physical intimacy, but it is ultimately very emotionally empty, and the scene that immediately follows it, when there is not a serious physical interaction, but there's this intense emotional connection." Green argues that the misunderstanding of his book is the reason for its controversy, and calls to people to understand the actual literary content before judging specific scenes. He also condemns the way that groups of parents underestimate the intelligence of teenagers and their ability to analyze literature. He ends with encouraging his viewers to attend the Depew School Board hearing to defend the choice of parents, students, and teachers to have Looking For Alaska included in public schools.[30]

text: Adaptation[edit]

text: The film rights to the novel were acquired by Paramount Pictures in 2005. The screenplay was potentially going to be written and directed by Josh Schwartz (creator of The O.C.)[31] but, due to a lack of interest by Paramount, the production had been shelved indefinitely.[32] It had been reported that Paramount was putting the screenplay in review due to the success of the film adaptation of Green's breakout novel, The Fault in Our Stars. On February 27, 2015, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, screenwriters for Temple Hill Entertainment who had worked on adaptations for The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns, would be writing and executive producing for the film.[33] Paramount was actively casting the latest version of the screenplay, which was written by Sarah Polley.[34][35] Rebecca Thomas was set to direct.[36] Green also confirmed that Neustadter and Weber were still involved with the film.[37] In August 2015, it was announced filming would begin in the fall in Michigan.[38] It was later announced that filming would begin in early 2016 because of lack of casting decisions. Later in 2016, John Green announced in a Vlogbrother's video and on social media that the film adaption has once again been shelved indefinitely.[39] John Green explained, "It has always fallen apart of one reason or another."[40]

text: On May 9, 2018 it was announced that Hulu would be adapting the novel into an 8-episode limited series.[41]

text: Footnotes[edit]

text: Bob Carlton (2005-03-13). "One-time Indian Springs student finds his way in first novel".